Apparatus for registering pulses



Dee. 25, 1956 J. DE KROES ET AL 2,775,726

APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING PULSES Filed Nov. 1, 1951 lid-i5 67890!!(3421516 M mm M. In" STK N Re 0e TH N 0% K ENS. 2 m h an WWO a g! FL I d NN ,h PM L 0% wh F11 n w m b g? c I L F L I, a 2 6 2 l, b Y J G cmax r n a i I 2 1 m a :M

United States Patent '0 APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING PULSES Jan Louis deKroes and Alphonsus Heetman, Hilversum, Netherlands, assignors toHartford National Bank and Trust Company, Hartford, Conn., as trusteeApplication November 1, 1951, Serial No. 254,242

Claims priority, application Netherlands November 6, 1950 1 Claim. (31.317-140 The invention relates to a method of registering pulses by meansof a counting relay circuit-arrangement.

Relay circuit-arrangements are already known in which a number of pulsessupplied to the counting circuit can be registered in the form of acombination ofv energized conditions of counting relays, the combinationbeing characteristic of this number. Such counting circuits are usedinter alia in registers of automatic telephone systems for the temporaryrecording of the dial pulses emitted by a subscriber and for there-emission of an equal number of pulses or a number of pulses derivedtherefrom. Such circuit-arrangements are furthermore used for markingthe outlets of selectors in systems comprising a common control-deviceor for producing other numerical criteria, for example direct voltages,the value of which is characteristic of the number of incoming pulses.

In the known circuit-arrangements, as a rule, the pulses are registeredin the binary system, i. e. a first relay registers the number of units,a second relay the number of doubles, a third relay the number ofquadruplets of the incoming digit. However, this method requires acomparatively high number of relays, since these circuit-arrangementsare such that, with doubling of the number of pulses that must beregisterable at the most, the number of relays must be raised by two, sothat the registration of 2" pulses requires 2 pulses relays. A furthercircuit-arrangement is known which permits of registering a maximumnumber of 2 pulses by means of n relays. However, the operation of thiscircuit-arrangement is not very reliable under any circumstances. Thiscircuit-arrangement has a limitation in that magnetizing ordemagnetizing of a relay must be carried out through discharge of acapacitor.

The invention is based on the recognition that 2" different energizingconditions can be distinguished with the use of n relays, since each.relay may be in one of two conditions, i. e. energized and notenergized. Each pulse requires two conditions, since at the beginningand at the end of each pulse a variation in condition is required forthe circuit to be insensitive for the duration of a pulse. In this casea maximum of 2" pulses can be counted with the use of n relays.Consequently the registration of 16 pulses requires 5 relays.

In the method according to the invention the circuit comprises ncounting relays, in which n is equal to 3 or more. The method ischaracterized in that the order of succession in which the relays areenergized is such (starting from the condition in which all relays areidle) that a relay having the ordinal numeral 1 is enerfrom 1 and n) isenergized at the end of the 2 pulse I, and changes its energizingcondition at theend of'each 2 pulse and that the relay having theordinal'numeral its energizingcondition after each 2 pulseo r else thatcertainty.

n is energized at the end of the 2" pulse and'changes Patented Dec. 25,1956 the series of energizing conditions is followed in the negativesense.

The method is such that all practicable energizing conditions of therelays occur in succession, while the energizing condition of only onerelay changes at the beginning and at the end of each pulse. Thisimplies that in addition to the counting relay proper, the energizingcondition of which gives an indication about the number of incomingpulses, no auxiliary relays are required, as is the case in knowncounting circuits.

If at the beginning or at the end of a pulse two or more relays wouldchange their conditions, these changes will not take place exactlysimultaneously in practice and, so that it is not certain which relaywill change its condition first which will create a situation of un- Ifone relay changes faster or sooner than the other, a condition is passedin which the energizing condition of the relays corresponds to aparticular number of pulses not equal to the real number of incomingpulses. Therefore, the known circuit-arrangements comprise'auxiliaryrelays which bridge the conditions of uncertainty. By the methodaccording to the invention the number of relays can be reduced to aminimum.

A circuit-arrangement which is particularly suitable for carrying outthis method is such that a terminal of a supply source is connectedthrough a first contact of the pulse number, by means of which pulsesmay be fed to the circuit, to a first circuit of series-connectedbreakcontacts of the relays, with the exception of one, the next of thebreak contacts in this circuit determining the order of succession, oneend of a first winding of the first relay of the order of successionbeing connected through a second contact of a pulse member, this contactswitching in a sense opposite to that of the first contact, to the saidterminal of the supply source, while one end of a first winding of thefurther relays are connected each through a make contact of thepreceding relay in the order of succession to the side of the breakcontact of this relay in the first circuit which'is remote from thepulse member, the other end of the first winding of the first relaybeing connected to an inlet of a second circuit, in which in the givenorder break contacts of the second and the next following relays areincluded in series and furthermore connected through a make contact of asecond relay to the inlet of a third circuit, in which in the givenorder break contacts of the third and the next following relays areincluded in series, the ends of the break contacts of each relayincluded in the second and the third circuit are connected crosswisethrough make contacts of the associated relays, the other ends of thefirst windings of the second relay and the next following relay beingconnected to the end of the break is established between the terminalsof a relay in the po-" sition of rest, this connection being interruptedwhen the relay is energized. Conversely, the term make contact isunderstood to mean acontactof which the terminals of the relay areinterconnected only when the relay .is energized. In view of theoperation of thecircuit-an rangement it is immaterial to which terminalthe moving 1 part of the contact member is connected. I v ".j Animportant advantage of the circuit-arrangement is' that it may bearranged in a simple manner to be such that pulses can be registeredboth in an additive and in a subtractive sense. This is particularly ofimportance, if it is required to re-emit a number of pulses equal to thenumber of incoming pulses. 'In this case, after the pulses to beregistered are recorded, the circuit is moved into a condition in whichit can count back, after which pulses, which may, for example, be takenfrom a standard pulse generator, are supplied to the circuit until aparticular initial condition, for example, the condition in which allthe relays are at rest, is reached. The circuitarrangement may beextended without drastic modifications by adding one or more relays.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readilycarried into elfect, it will now be described more fully with referenceto the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a graph illustrative of the operation of pulse registeringapparatus in accordance with the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of apulse registering apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 1 illustrates the order of succession in which the relays areenergized in the method according to the invention. The pulses suppliedare indicated at Imp. Figs. la, lb and 1c relate to counting circuitscomprising 3, 4 5 relays respectively. With each circuit the series ofenergized conditions may, in principle, occur both from the left to theright and in the inverse direction, one direction corresponding, forexample, to the registration in an additive sense, the other to theregistration in a subtractive sense.

If the series is followed from the left to the right, the first relay isenergized from the beginning of an oddnumbered pulse till the beginningof the next following even-numbered pulse. The second relay is energizedfrom the end of the first pulse till the end of the third pulse, fromthe end of the fifth pulse till the end of the seventh pulse, and soforth. The variations of the energized conditions of the third relay arenot equal in the circuit comprising three relays to those in thecircuits comprising four or more relays. In the circuit comprising threerelays the third relay is energized from the end of the second pulsetill the end of the fourth pulse, from the end of the sixth pulse tillthe end of the eighth pulse, and so forth, if the cycle is followed fromthe left to the right and the cycle is repeated after series of fourpulses. On the contrary, in a circuit comprising four or more relays,the third relay remains energized until the end of the sixth pulse.

In a circuit comprising 12 relays, the energizing condition of therelays with the exception of the last relay, is in general, symmetricalrelative to the end of the 2" th pulse. The cycle of the circuitcomprising 11 relays may be derived from that of a circuit comprisingn-l relays by reflecting the cycle of each relay of the latter circuitwith respect to the end of this cycle. Then the nth relay is energizedfor the second half of the cycle with it relays. It should be noted thatat the beginning and at the end of each pulse only one relay changes itsenergizing condition.

Fig. 2 shows one embodiment of a circuit comprising 5 relays. Thiscircuit permits of registering 16 pulses. The 5 relays A, B, C, D and Eare shown in the figure by their two windings A1A2, B1B2, C1C2, D1D2 andE1E2. The energizing current for the relays is supplied by a battery Ba,of which the positive terminal P is grounded. The counting pulses aresupplied to the circuit by means of a pulse change-over contact i of arelay R. The arrangement comprises three circuits K1, K2 and K3 ofseries-connected break-contacts of the relays. The change-over contactsa1, hi, or and d1 of the relays A, B, C and D form a chain circuit, ofwhich the seriesconnected break-contacts constitute the circuit K1. Theinlet U1 thereof is grounded through a break-contact 1' and abreak-contact t1 of a relay T (not shown). The ends of first windingsB1, C1, D1 and E1 of the relays B, C, D and E are connected to themake-contact of the chain circuit. Between an end of a first winding A1of relay A and ground are connected the break-contact t2 of relay T andthe make-contact i of the pulse member. The other end of the winding A1is connected to the inlet U2 of a second circuit K2. This circuit isconstituted by the series-connection of the break-contacts b4, 04, 114and c4 of the relays B, C, D and E. The other ends of the windings B1,D1, C1 and E1 are connected to the ends of the break-contacts of theassociated relays of this circuit, these ends being remote from theinlet U2. The other end of the circuit K2 is connected through thebreak-contact 23 of relay T to the negative terminal N of the battery.The inlet U2 of the circuit K2 is connected through the make-contact b4of relay B to the inlet U3 of the third circuit K3, of which the otherend is grounded through break-contact t4 of relay T. The circuit K3 isconstituted by the series-connection of the break-contacts 05, d5 and esof relays C, D and E. The ends of the break-contacts c4 and 65, d4 andd5, er and c5 and t3 and t4, associated with the same relay, areconnected cross-wise by make-contacts c4 and 05, d4 and d5, er and as,Is and t4, respectively, of the corresponding relays. The pairs ofchangeover contacts or and c5 and so forth thus form a commutator. Therelays are provided with second windings A2, B2, C2, D2 and E2, throughwhich, if the relay is energized, in series with its own make-contactsa2 and as, b2 and b3, c2 and 03, d2 and d3, 62 and as and with aresistor R1, R2, R2, R4, R5 and R6 respectively a holding circuit forthe relay is completed.

The circuit-arrangement operates as follows:

In the position of rest all the relays are deenergized. At the beginningof the first pulse the pulse contact 1' completes an energizing circuitfor relay A from ground through contact i Off, 12 011?, winding A1,contact b4 oif, circuit K2, contact t3 off to battery Ba. The termcontact i up, 22 off is to be understood to mean here the makecontact1', the break-contact t2 and so forth. Relay A completes a holdingcircuit for itself through contact as up, its second winding A2, contacta2 up, resistor R1.

At the end of the first pulse relay B is energized in a circuit fromground through contact i off, 1 off, m on, winding B1, contact 04 off,d4 off, 24 off, t3 off to the negative terminal N of the battery. RelayB completes a holding circuit for itself in a manner similar to that ofrelay A and of the relays to be energized afterwards through a secondwinding B2, this holding circuit being here completed through contact beup, winding B2 contact b2 up, resistor R2. Relay B then changes over thearmature of its change-over contact b4, so that at the beginning of thesecond pulse the winding A1 of relay A is short-circuited throughcontact b4 up, as 01f, d5 off, 25 off, t4 ofi, i up and t2 off, whilefurthermore winding A2 is short-circuited through contact a up, i up and12 off, the relay A falling 01f. The resistor R1 here prevents thebattery from being short-circuited until makecontact an opens.

At the end of the second through contact i off, 11 off, contact d4 off,e4 ofli and t3 olf.

At the beginning of the third pulse make-contact i completes anenergizing circuit for relay A through contact 1 up, 12 off, winding A1,contact b4 up, 05 up, d4 off, (24 off and ts otf.

Relay B is deenergized at the end of the third pulse owing to theshort-circuit of winding B1 through contact at up, d5 otf, e5 off, t4off, i off, t1 ofl? and a1 up and the winding B2 through contact 123 up,i ofl, t1 0E and a1 up.

At the beginning of the fourth pulse relay A is denergized owing to theshort-circuit of winding A1 through contact b4 0E, 04 up, d5 01?, e5ofi, is off, i up and t2 off.

pulse relay C is energized 111 off, b1 up, winding C1,

5 Attthe'end-of this pulse relay D is energized through contact i pflf,1101f, a1 ofi, b1 off, c1 up, winding D1, contact e4 offandta off. x

At the beginning of the fifth pulse relay A is energized through contacti up, t2 .oif, winding A1, contact b4 off, 04 up, d5 up, :24 ofi and t3off. At the end of this pulse relay .Bis energized through contact iofi,t1 ofi, a1 up, winding B1, contactc4 up, d5 up, :24 oif," and I3 01f.

Relay A is deenergizedat .the beginning of the sixth pulse owing to theshort-circuit of winding am through contact b4 up, as up, d4 up, e5 oif,:41 off, i up and t2 oif. At the end of this pulse relay c is alsodeenergized, since its winding C is short-circuited through contact dup, :25 off, t4 oif, i oif, t1 otf, a1 oif and b1 up the winding C2being at the same time short-circuited.

At the beginning of the seventh pulse relay A is again energized throughcontact i up, 1 oif, winding A1, contact b4 up, 05 off, d5 up, at offand is ofi.

At the end of this pulse relay B is deenergized owing to theshort-circuit of its winding B1 through contact 04 off, ds up, e5 otf,t4 off, i off, t1 ofif and a1 up and of its winding B2.

At the beginning of the eighth pulse relay A is deenergized owing to theshort-circuit of its winding A1 through contact b4 ofi, or off, d4 up,e5 off, t4 ofi, i up and t2 oif and of winding A2.

At the end of this pulse relay E is energized through contact i 013:, t1oif, a1 off, b1 oif, c1 OE and d1 up, winding E1 and contact is ofi.

At the beginning of the ninth pulse relay A is energized through contacti up, t2 off, winding A1, contact 114 off, 04 ofi, d4 up, e5 up and t3oif. Relay B is energized at the end of the ninth pulse through contacti 011*, t off, in up, winding B1, contact ofi, d4 up, 25 up and ts off.

At the beginning of the tenth pulse relay A is deenergized owing to theshort-circuit of its winding A through contact 114 up, off, d up, e4 upand t4 oif, i up and t2 off and of winding A2.

At the end of the tenth pulse relay C is energized through contact ioif, t1 01f, a1 off, b1 up, winding C1, contact d4, up and 2 up and t3oif.

Relay A is energized at the beginning of the eleventh pulse throughcontact i up, 12 ofi, winding A1, contact b4 up, 05 up, d4 up, 25 up andis oif. I

At the end of the eleventh pulse winding B1 is shortcircuited throughcontact 04 up, d5 up, 2 up, :4. off, i oti, and t1 off, a1 up, so thatrelay B is deenergized.

At the beginning of the twelfth pulse winding A1 is short-circuitedthrough contact b4. 011?, ci up, d5 up, 24 up, t4 off, i up, 12 oflz'.At the end of this pulse relay D is deenergized owing to theshort-circuit of winding D1 through contact 24 up, t4. ofi, i off, t1oif, a1 off, 121 off, and 01 up.

At the beginning of the thirteenth pulse relay A is energized throughcontact i up, in off, winding A1, contact b4 oflf, 02 up, d5 off, e5 upand t3 off. At the end of this pulse relay B is energized throughcontact i ofi, t1 ofi, a1 up, winding B1, contact (:4 up, d5 off, e5 up,is off, i ofi, 11 off and m up.

At the beginning of the fourteenth pulse winding A1 is short-circuitedthrough contact b4 up, c5 up, d4 oflf, e4 up, it ofi, i up and t2 off.At the end of this pulse winding C1 of relay C is also short-circuitedthrough contact dn oif, e4 up, is off, iofi, t1 off, a1 0E, b1 up.

At the beginning of the fifteenth pulse relay A is energized throughcontact i up, t2 off, winding A1, contact b4 up, 05 off, d5 ofi, e5 up,and ts ofi. At the end of this pulse winding B1 is short-circuitedthrough contact 04. off, d4 off, e4 up, t4 off, i ofi, t1 off and a1 up.

At the beginning of the sixteenth pulse relay A is demagnetized owing tothe short-circuit of its winding A2 through contact b4 off, 01 off, (14ofl, e4 up, t4 off, i up and t2 ofi. At the end of this pulse relay E isdeenergized as the last relay, since its winding E2 is short-circuitedthrough contact t4 off, i off, t1 ofi, a1 off, b1 off, 01 off, d1 ofi.

The circuit-arrangement maybe moved, in a state, from any state into acondition in which pulses are counted back, i. e. the series ofenergizing conditions is followed in an opposite sense by energizing therelay T so that the commutator contacts t1, i2, is and t4 change over.

If, for example, four pulses are received, relays A, B and E are in theposition of rest and relays C and D are energized. After relay T hasbeen energized, the pulse member I again supplies pulses to the circuit,this member being, for example, controlled by a standard pulsegenerator.

At the beginning of the first counting-back pulse relay D isdeenergized, since its winding D1 is short-circuited through contact atofi, is up, i up, is up, 01 oif, b1 off, and 01 up, winding D2 beingshort-circuited through contact d3 up, 1' up, t2 up, a1 off, 171 off and0 up. At the end of the first pulse relay A is energized through contacti off, t1 up, winding A1, contact b4 01?, (:4 up, d5 off, e5 oif, and t4up.

At the beginning of the second pulse relay B is deenergized throughcontact 1 up, t2 up, in up, winding B1, contact 04 up, d5 off, as offand t4 up. At the end of the second pulse relay A is de-energized owingto the shortcircuit of its Winding A2 and of its winding A1 throughcontact 194 up, c5 up, d4 ofi and as off, t3 up, i up, and 11 up.

At the beginning of the third pulse relay C is deenergized, at the endof the third pulse relay A is energized, at the beginning of the fourthpulse relay B is de-energized and at the end of this pulse relay A isalso de-energized, so that all the relays have been deenergized and thecircuit-arrangement again takes up its position of rest.

The circuit-arrangement may be modified in various ways within the scopeof the invention. In the circuitarrangement described, a relay isdemagnetized for shortcircuiting its windings. As a matter of course, arelay may, as an alternative be deenergized by counter-magnetizationthrough the main winding, which may, for example, be carried out byconnecting the pulse member not to earth, but to a suitablepotentiometer of the battery. The connection between the two windings ofthe relays may then be dispensed with.

What we claim is:

Apparatus for registering pulses comprising a voltage source having twoterminals, a pulsing member responsive to incoming sequential pulses andincluding a connecting element and first and second contacts alternatelyengaged by said element in response to an applied pulse, said elementbeing connected to one terminal of said source, a series of at leastthree relays each provided with a winding and first, second and thirdswitches actuated thereby, each switch having a connecting arm and makeand break contacts engaged thereby, means serially connecting the armsthrough the associated break contacts in the first switches of allrelays in said series except the last thereof between one end of thewinding of said last relay and the first contact of said pulsing member,the second contact of said pulsing member being connected to one end ofthe winding of the first relay in said series, means serially connectingthe arms through the associated break contacts of the second switches inall relays in said series except the first thereof between the other endof the winding of said first relay and the other terminal of saidsource, means serially connecting the arms through the associated breakcontacts of the third switches in all relays in said series except thefirst and second thereof between the make contact of the second switchin said second relay and said one terminal of said source, the windingof each of said relays except said first relay being connected betweenthe break contact in the corresponding second switch and the makecontact of the first switch associated with the preceding relay in theseries, means cross-coupling the make contacts of the second and thirdswitches to the break contacts of the second and third switchesassociated with all the relays in the series except the first and secondthereof, and holding circuit means in conjunction with each relay insaid series.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS '8Hartley June 29, 1948 Kinkead Mar. 25, 1947 Bray Apr. 24,1951 SchowtenJuly 17, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES AIEE Technical Paper, September 1951,51-530, Relay Counting Chains Codes and Translations in Dial Pulse,Register Circuits, by R. M. M. Oberman.

